How Monet's cataracts colored his view of the water-lilies

Monet's series of paintings depicting the dappled light playing across the water-lilies at his home in Giverny are considered some of the finest works by the French Impressionists.

But new research suggests the famously blurred effect achieved by the master's brush strokes may have been a literal representation of how he saw the world.

Monet's deteriorating sight, caused by the onset of cataracts, has long been the subject of speculation by art historians. A computer simulation carried out by an ophthalmologist at Stanford University has now cast new light on the state of Monet's vision and the effect it had on his work.